Morning After
by Pichitinha
Summary: Artemis is back and the world is safe. This is the morning after. / Canon Divgergence (there were only 20MFDs)


Waking up to Wally's breath on her neck and his arm firmly pressed around her was a delight Artemis hadn't realized she missed until then. Sure, she'd missed the warmth of their shared bed, his general presence somewhere in the house while she arose to the waking world, the scent that was so absurdly him that lingered in the air, but she felt a strange ache in her chest now as his hard muscles pressed against her back. She couldn't have said yes fast enough when Dick proposed the mission, but she was so, so glad she was back. That everything was gone. That everyone was fine and her life would be waiting for her.

She dared to move as little as she could, just so she could turn to Wally and watch his peaceful sleep. As a speedster he couldn't keep still, always moving and running around; but maybe because of that much spent energy, his sleep was always deep. Waking him up was a feature in itself – although after he was awake, trying to hold him down would be a waste – and so she enjoyed that moment to trace his face and even shoulders and chest that the covers weren't hiding. She'd made sure to think of him every day, never wanting to forget anything. And she didn't. But this… memory Wally got nothing on the real thing.

She was reaching up to his nose once again when she noticed his eyes were open. And when hers met his, they smiled. Genuinely happy smiles. Not teasing or grateful or ironic. Just happy.

"Hey, beautiful." He murmured while starting to draw random circles on her stomach.

She'd missed that so much.

"Hello, handsome." She answered in a playful tone and he laughed like he always did when she occasionally called him that.

"What are you doing up so early?" He asked stretching himself and then retreating to his original position, holding her tight. "I can feel it's not even eight o'clock yet."

She checked the clock just to be sure. It was seven-fifty.

She shrugged. "Not many reasons to waste time sleeping."

And thank god she was lying down, because that look he gave her totally made her knees week.

"You make an excellent point."

They both moved simultaneously, their lips meeting halfway on a calm, innocent kiss. Every sort of immediate physical need of contact had been taken care of the day before, desperate, passionate, missing kisses. Today there was no rush. No reason to not enjoy each other's presence, how full both of them felt.

A content sight escaped her lips sometime during the kiss and they broke apart not long after that, their breaths a little off despite the slow kissing.

"Love you." Wally declared hiding his face in the crook of her neck and inhaling deeply, taking all of her scent to make sure it was still the same.

It was.

"I love you, too." She declared caressing his hair. Then she tugged at it so he would look at her. "You know that, right? That I love you more than anything?"

"I know. I know, babe." He kissed her lips again. "Me too."

"I'm not leaving again." She whispered to his skin and he didn't know if she was promising or begging him. "I think we've done enough."

"Yeah, we definitely have." He kissed her again.

"And I think I'm ready for full retirement. If you are, I mean."

"I already was the first time." He responded in a non-accusatory tone and she was glad.

"And-" She swallowed and tried to get it out. "And I love you." Failed.

He raised his eyebrows. "Uh, so do I, Artemis. What ar-"

"And I think we should get married." She cut him off.

He shut up.

He searched for her look, but she felt a little embarrassed so she avoided his gaze. It was never a discussion whether or not they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, they did and it was always implied. But marriage had never been brought up.

"I… wow. Artemis-" He started, shifting to see her better, and she finally met his eyes.

"Let me say this. I know we never talked about this. We're still in college – I'm gonna take yet an additional semester to graduate, probably –, our apartment in Palo Alto is simply to be closer to Stanford and we're still young and probably a lot of other factors that I can't think of right now, but does that really mean anything? We haven't seen each other in months, I missed you more than I thought was possible, and we love each other, we already live together, we've been together forever, we-"

He kissed her strongly, square on the mouth, and she was stunned for a few seconds before she started to respond. When they parted, completely out of breath and with an expression of wonder on their faces, Wally held her cheek and smiled.

"In all of the scenarios I pictured that marriage was up for discussion, I always thought I'd be the one convincing you. You know me enough to know I'm absolutely, one hundred percent in for it."

She smiled and kissed him again, much briefer than before, her smile refusing to go away.

"And to prove it to you," He said with a smirk while turning on the small bed to get his costume on the floor. "I've had it for a few weeks." He dug in the secret compartments he usually kept food as he spoke. "Thought of proposing when you got back or maybe keeping it until we graduated, I wasn't sure." He fished out a jewelry box and she couldn't help but stare at it wide-eyed. "But you decided for me, so…" He opened the box to her, revealing a discrete diamond ring and she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately, not sure if that smile would ever get off of her face.

"Can I please ask it?" He asked in between kisses, his smile also permanently attached.

"Why? You know the answer." She moved her mouth to his neck and he had a few seconds to clear his head a little.

"Just-" He exhaled loudly when she used her teeth. "Just let me ask!"

She sighed and broke the contact, sitting on his lap. "Okay, go ahead. You don't need to get down on one knee, right?"

"No, no, this is fine." He ran his fingers through his hair and patted the bed searching for the box that fell when she attacked him. When he found it, he took a deep breath and opened it again. "Artemis, will you marry me?"

She stared at him. "Really? You insisted so much I thought you had a super speech and fireworks and-"

"Just say yes, Artemis!" He sounded exasperated and she laughed a little before kissing him again, calmer this time.

"Yes, you doofus."

"No." He shook his head. "Say it right."

She rolled her eyes, but grinned nonetheless. "Yes, Wally." She softened her tone and held his face with both her hands. "Of course I'll marry you."

He took her hand in his and put the ring on her third finger. "Okay. We're officially engaged."

She put her arms back around his neck and moved closer. "Well, fiancé, can I kiss you now?"

He grinned and rolled them over the bed, stopping above her. "Why, fiancée, be my guest."


End file.
